


us...

by startswithhope



Series: love me tender... [1]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Fluff, Holidays, Kissing, M/M, Patrick is stressed and David wants to help, Tenderness, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:47:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27687827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startswithhope/pseuds/startswithhope
Summary: Set in late October before Rose Apothecary’s first Holiday Season, Patrick is stressed about getting their holiday order right.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Series: love me tender... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024738
Comments: 25
Kudos: 178





	us...

“Well, I’m done, but if you want to give me a few more hours, I can come up with a completely different order that may or may not be the right one.”

The frazzled edges of Patrick’s voice as he emerges from the back room are alarming, in that David isn’t accustomed to hearing his almost unflappable boyfriend so distressed. Looking up from his box of creams, he takes in Patrick’s slumped shoulders as he leans back on the counter and okay, wow, he’s never looked like this before.

“Patrick, if we don’t get it one hundred percent right this time, we’ll take note of the things we need to change for next year. Holding on to that much stress is bad for your skin.”

A small smile cracks Patrick’s grim expression, so David chalks that up as a win. 

“I know, it’s just, I want to get this right for you.”

_Oh._

Knowing the container by feel alone, he curls his fingers around a small tub of the eucalyptus under-eye serum from his box and crosses over towards Patrick with a determined smile.

“Up,” he demands, motioning for Patrick to sit fully on the counter.

“Huh?”

Giving the wood by Patrick’s hip a tap, he waits, a little impatiently, for Patrick to catch on and push himself up onto the counter as instructed. He still looks tired, but there’s a curious amusement crinkling the skin at the corners of his eyes and just that little physical reaction is enough to make David’s heart do a little flip. Fuck, he hopes that Patrick never catches on to how much he’s unable to hide how in love he is because David’s grown more than a little addicted to this trait of his.

Maneuvering Patrick’s knees so he can step in-between, he leans in close, relishing how Patrick’s breath comes out in a quick, warm puff against his nose as he takes his lips in a lingering kiss. 

Pulling back, he smiles against his mouth as Patrick tries to chase.

“First,” he whispers, “it’s _us_.”

“Us?”

“You want to get it right for us, not just me. Rose Apothecary is ours.”

Almost in complete synchronization, Patrick’s cheeks go pink as his eyes flicker down breaking contact and David knows he should say that more often. He forgets that as much as it means everything to him that Patrick wants to own this place with him, it means just as much to the man in front of him. 

“And second, I have exquisite taste in vendors and products and you are some kind of idiot savant when it comes to inventory projections, so I’m more than a little bit confident in your ability to stock us up for the holidays.”

“I know, but,” Patrick starts to argue, but David is having none of that.

“Did you order extra of the mulled spice mix?”

“Yes.”

“And the assortment of holiday flavored massage oils.”

“Yes.”

“And all of Jake’s unfairly beautiful wooden Christmas ornaments?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then, we’re good.”

“Yeah?”

There’s a tinge of Patrick’s usual confidence creeping back into this voice, so David breathes a small sigh of relief as he responds.

“Yes.”

“Okay. Can I ask one question?”

“Is it about inventory?”

“No,” Patrick chuckles.

“Okay, go ahead.”

Warm, strong hands find their way onto the sides of David’s hips and he finds himself being nudged a little deeper between Patrick’s open legs.

“Why am I sitting on the counter?”

“Oh! I got distracted.” David opens his palm to reveal the eye serum and twists the lid off the top with this other hand. “Lift your head up a bit for me.”

“Is that…?”

“Yes, I love you, but the dark circles forming under your eyes are not a good look.”

“No?”

Dipping his thumb into the soft cream, he warms it between his fingers before lightly dotting it into Patrick’s skin.

“No.”

He’s tempted to drop soft kisses to Patrick’s lips the way he did back when their roles were reversed, but he gets distracted by the small scar slanted over Patrick’s brow bone he’s always meant to ask him about. Moving the pad of his thumb up, he lightly passes over it as he meets Patrick’s gaze.

“How did you get this?”

“If I tell you, you have to promise you’ll never tell my Mom you know. She’s never forgiven herself.”

“I promise.”

“She was bouncing me on her knee when I was four and I wiggled out of her hands and fell. My eye hit the corner of our coffee table.”

“Oh my god.”

“It sounds worse than it actually was, apparently. I don’t even remember it, but my Dad says I didn’t even really cry as I got my stitches. My mom, however, can’t even talk about it.”

There’s a tiny pang in David’s heart that he doesn’t have memories like this of his parents, of having his small hands held after injuries or tears wiped away. But, he wouldn’t change anything about his past. He actually secretly loves the relationship he has with his family now. 

“She loves you too much.”

Patrick’s eyes go all soft and his lips curl up into a smile as he nods in agreement.

Something in David goes all soft, too, and he finds himself leaning up so he can press a gentle kiss to the small scar, the cooling sensation of the serum leaving a pleasant tingle behind on his lips.

“I know the feeling,” he whispers against Patrick’s temple. 

Emotional sentiments like this just seem to keep slipping out of his mouth lately, and while he means every word of them, it doesn’t stop his body’s near panic like reaction to the words being said aloud. Tamping down the impulse to pull away and hide his face, he moves his hand so he’s holding the back of Patrick’s neck and sucks in a deep, steadying breath against the side of his cheek. 

Patrick knows, he somehow immediately knows, and with a smooth shift of his head, his lips are just there, slightly wet from his tongue, sliding over until their mouths found home in a breathy kiss. David’s already unfurling emotions completely come loose as Patrick groans into his mouth and his hands move to encircle his waist under the hem of his sweater and all David can do is remember how to stand and open his lips to welcome the hot swipe of Patrick’s tongue. 

It’s well past closing and there won’t be a customer interrupting them for bath salts or applesauce or brooms, not this time. This time, David lets himself get carried away, lets Patrick take him to the edge of sanity with his confident kisses and lets himself get amped up from the heat pooling off of Patrick’s skin beneath the thin material of his blue button down shirt. He lets them take it as far as is prudent with their windowed store and the lights illuminating them still, before he’s dragging his boyfriend by the now open front of his jeans into their back room to remind him that there are many, many other things to do back there that are far less stressful than placing holiday orders. 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Noah and I have the exact same scar, so I stole how I got mine for this story. ;)


End file.
